AS the Hammers set about banishing the memory of Sunday's
painful penalty shoot-out defeat to Sheffield United, midfielder
Hayden Mullins insisted that it was important West Ham United react
positively this week.
"The FA Cup is over now and we've got to put it out of our
minds," he admitted. "The League was always the most
important thing for us and we've got to concentrate our full
attention on that now.
"We got a very important three points against Cardiff in the
last Championship game and we've got to build on that with
another strong display this weekend.
"Plymouth are far from an easy team to beat, which they showed
at their place earlier in the season when they held us to a 1-1
draw. We've got to respond in the right way this week, stay
positive and forget about the FA Cup by working as hard as we can
to prepare for Saturday's game."
Although intent on looking forward rather than back, Hayden did
concede that the atmosphere in the dressing-room was one of bitter
disappointment after the 3-1 shoot-out defeat to the Blades.
"It was really tough for us to take," he confessed.
"We know that we didn't do enough in normal time to break
them down, especially when they went down to 10 men. We had a
really great spell around the time that we scored when we perhaps
should have gone on to win.
"But Sheffield United fought really hard in both games and
when it got to penalties it could have gone either way.
"The lads were gutted after the game. We really wanted to do
well in the FA Cup because it's a huge competition and one that
the fans always enjoy.
"A trip to Highbury in the Fifth Round would have been a great
way to reward the fans for their support. But it didn't happen
and we've got to forget about that now and start focusing on
the League again. We're still fighting hard to win promotion
and we need a win against Plymouth."
The 1-0 win over Cardiff was a vital three points for the Hammers.
It pushed us right back into Play-off contention and the
25-year-old midfielder insists that the Club must look to
consolidate a Play-off position.
"Promotion is the big goal for the Club and we've got to
make sure it happens," he said. "Until it's
impossible for us to gain automatic promotion then we'll keep
pushing. But Ipswich, Sunderland and Wigan are all going well and
it may be that we have to settle for the Play-offs.
"We need to look at that as a positive though. We're more
than capable of achieving promotion through the Play-offs and
everyone still firmly believes that we can go up this season.
It's just important that we don't get ahead of ourselves
now and concentrate on just winning the next match."
Hayden's In Focus
14th February 2005